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| Indian PM votes in second phase of elections | | | AGENCIES
New Delhi: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh casted his vote on Thursday in Dispur, the capital city of the insurgency-hit northeastern state of Assam. India's northeastern region has been hit by a string of bomb attacks in the run till the elections. Singh, accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur, arrived at the voting booth amid tight security. The couple flew in from New Delhi to exercise their franchise. They stood in a queue along with other voters before entering the booth.
Singh expressed confidence in congress emerging victorious in these elections. "Congress will be victorious in Assam with a thumping majority. There will be a central government led by the Congress party," he said.
Manmohan Singh said,” he was not tense during the second round of polling, the biggest of the five phases, that also covers the IT centre of Bangalore and some states, where Maoist rebels are strong. The ruling Congress- party-led coalition appears to lead against an alliance headed by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, but both may need the support of a host of smaller regional parties to win office. Analysts say, such a government is unlikely to be stable or be able to bridge a yawning fiscal deficit and push financial reforms, including slashing subsidies and privatisation at a time of a severe economic downturn.
There are also investor worries over the rise of a group of smaller parties, known as the "Third Front", who are often seen as opportunist and an unknown quantity in government.
Hundreds of thousands of policemen guarded some 200 million people eligible to vote after Maoist rebel violence marred the mostly peaceful first phase of polls last week, killing police and election officials. Maoists killed five election officials in a landmine blast in Chhattisgarh during the last round of voting. Eleven policemen were also killed across the central and eastern "red belt".
The outcome of the election will be known on May 16. India's elections are notoriously hard to predict as the polls have been wrong in the past. Exit polls are banned for the election.
An array of castes, religions and ethnic groups add up to the 714 million people eligible to vote in the world's largest democratic exercise, where ancient ties still play a large role at the ballot box.
There are no major national issues in this election, but the centre-left Congress party is wooing voters with populist measures such as food subsidies while the BJP accuses its main rival of poor governance and being weak on security.
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